Is Amazon Distribution Center Bound for Bazetta?
BAZETTA TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Documents filed with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency last month indicate that a proposed 169,000-square-foot distribution center along Perkins-Jones Road NE would be a delivery facility affiliated with the online retail giant Amazon.
According to a site concept plan prepared July 9 by Progressive AE, an engineering and architectural firm based in Grand Rapids, Mich., the project calls for development of a DGF2 delivery station on 66.2 acres, replete with 341 parking spaces reserved for employees, managers and visitors.
Among those are three spaces dedicated for managers at “AMZL” – an abbreviation for Amazon Logistics, the concept map shows. Moreover, another 46 spaces are allocated to “DSP” managers. DSP is an acronym for Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners. The Delivery Service Partner program enables independently owned businesses to operate as Amazon drivers, according to Amazon’s website.
The proposed parking area, positioned parallel to Perkins-Jones at the south end of the property, allots another 193 spaces for associates, three visitor spaces and another 96 “van personal spaces,” the document shows.
In addition to the employee lot, the proposed project provides 1,003 spots for vans on the north and east side of the site, the map shows.
The proposed site map also shows a schematic of a mostly rectangular-shaped delivery center that is perpendicular to Perkins-Jones and the front parking lot. The map also denotes locations such as “associate gathering areas,” spaces for bike racks and ride-share shelters.
In May, township trustees announced a proposal to build a $30 million delivery station at the site, identified then simply as “Project Penguin.” Although trustees disclosed the name of the developer, they have not divulged the project’s end-user because of nondisclosure agreements.
Bazetta Township Trustee Michael Hovis said he wasn’t aware of any documents that suggested the project was one of Amazon’s delivery sites. “I haven’t heard anything about that,” he said.
The trustee told The Business Journal in May that the project would create at least 120 full-time jobs.
Hovis said the developer, Ambrose Property Group, selected the site because of its proximity to the state Route 82 interchange. “It’s definitely going to create some jobs, and with them bringing infrastructure, it’s hopefully going to expand on that industrial zone there,” he said.
The sewer would extend a lateral 2,100 feet to serve residents along Perkins-Jones and the new development, he said. “We’re just waiting on the EPA approval,” Hovis said, noting he’d like to begin work sometime in mid-September or early October. The costs of the infrastructure would be assumed by Ambrose Group, the developer.
The developer has also filed permit applications related to wetlands at the site, just east of the former Kmart distribution center.
Indianapolis-based Ambrose Property Group boasts Amazon as one of its major clients, according to previous news stories. In August, Walsh Construction worked with Ambrose Property Group on an 80,000-square-foot warehouse in Wisconsin for Amazon’s last-mile delivery program. Ambrose has also assisted in developing plans for a new Amazon facility near Terre Haute, Ind., it was announced earlier this year, according to reports.
According to its website, Ambrose – an industrial, logistics and e-commerce real estate firm established in 2008 – has completed $1.2 billion worth of industrial projects in major markets across the United States.
A spokeswoman from Ambrose Property Group said it could not provide more information regarding the Bazetta project.
“Ambrose cannot provide any additional information beyond what has been publicly submitted,” the company said in a statement.
The Bazetta center would be the second brick-and-mortar Amazon delivery location in the Mahoning Valley. In 2019, Amazon opened its first delivery site – a 43,200-square-foot warehouse in North Jackson at the Youngstown Commerce Park.
Pictured at top: The site of a proposed distribution center in Bazetta Township.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
